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DELAWARE, Ohio — A Columbus man will spend 12 years in prison for forcing drug-addicted women
into prostitution, a Delaware County judge has ruled.

David Nelms, 40, pleaded guilty in June to running a prostitution ring and giving the women
heroin in exchange for the proceeds. Officials say he placed escort-service ads on the Internet and
ran a traveling brothel that forced women to have sex for money at upscale hotels in Delaware and
Franklin counties.

Nelms was indicted in September on 17 counts that included human trafficking. He pleaded guilty
to engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and possessing heroin; both are second-degree
felonies. Common Pleas Judge John Bender sentenced Nelms on Friday.

He was charged after the Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force received a tip in 2011 that
he had been trafficking women for years.

“Mr. Nelms exploited the addictions of these young women for illegal profit,” said Kyle Rohrer,
an assistant Delaware County prosecutor. “He left many lives damaged as a result of his
actions."